Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA)
Graduate School of Business’s MBA, Online MBA and DBA programs are MQA certified and the school’s PhD program is a self-accredited program under Universiti Sains Malaysia. All academic programmes under GSB have complied with the requirements of Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) Framework by Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia. For further information please visit: https://www.mqa.gov.my/pv4/index.cfm

ABEST21
ABEST21 was established as a non-profit organisation on July 1, 2005 and recognised as a business accreditation agency for business schools by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) on October 12, 2007. To date, the number of member institutions and the number of represented countries has more than doubled, with ABEST21 membership now comprising 76 business schools and 6 companies from 18 different countries. The mission of ABEST21 is to advance management education of business schools on a global basis by encouraging cooperation among its member institutions. The mission can be accomplished through the following goals. In the aims to provide high quality of academic programmes at GSB which has an international perspective, GSB had become a full member of ABEST21 (The Alliance on Business Education and Scholarship for Tomorrow, a 21st Century organization) since 2011.
On March 8th, 2014, GSB has been granted the accreditation status of ABEST21 for its MBA programme. ABEST21 also recognized GSB as a business school with the excellence in practice of sustainable learning and interdisciplinary teaching. The school was re-accredited officially in 2019 by ABEST21 with flying colours outcome as our MBA program received A for all sections audited and the Peer View Team visited the school as part of the process in 2018.

For further information please visit: https://abest21.org/.

EDUNIVERSAL

ABOUT EDUNIVERSAL

Eduniversal is Headquartered in Paris, Eduniversal is a global ranking and rating agency specializing in higher education. The company has established strong expertise in evaluating academic institutions and programs in France since 1994, and internationally since 2007.
Eduniversal produces two annual global rankings:

• The Best 1000 Business Schools in 154 countries (www.eduniversal-ranking.com).
• The Best 4000 Masters and MBA programs in 30 fields of study in 154 countries (www.best-masters.com).

These rankings are designed to provide information to prospective graduate students that will help them in their search for their future studies in the following zones: Africa, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, Eurasia & Middle East, Far East Asia, Latin America, North America, Oceania, Western Europe.

GSB participated in the Eduniversal ranking and MBA Universe in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, the School’s MBA program was ranked top 20 in Eduniversal Best Masters Ranking – MBA full time in Far East Asia.
Please visit: https://www.best-masters.com/ranking-master-mba-full-time-in-far-eastern-asia.html. Currently GSB is under 3 palms of excellence in 2019, Eduniversal recognised GSB as an excellent business school with reinforcing international influences.

For further information please visit: https://eduniversal-ranking.com/

AACSB INTERNATIONAL

ABOUT AACSB INTERNATIONAL
AACSB International-The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business is a global, non-profit membership organization of educational institutions, businesses, and other entities devoted to the advancement of management education. Established in 1916, AACSB International provides its members with a variety of products and services to assist them with the continuous improvement of their business programs and schools.

When educational, professional, and business organizations become members of the AACSB Business Education Alliance, they are part of a movement united to improve the quality of business education around the world. AACSB connects, shares, and inspires innovation and quality throughout the member network, as well as the business community. The collective strength of the organization is founded on diverse perspectives, a global mindset, and a commitment to making a difference.

AACSB’s mission is to foster engagement, accelerate innovation, and amplify impact in business education. The global organization has offices located in Tampa, Florida, USA; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Singapore.

Graduate School of Business is a member of AACSB International since 2014 and GSB is looking forward for the school to be accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) by 2022. The first ISER reported submitted by the school was accepted by the committee of IAC@AACSB in April 2019 and with that GSB advance to have successfully submitted our first progress report in 2020 March. The 2nd progress report was submitted in December 2020 and the school advanced to 3rd progress report in June 2021. Officially the school received an invitation for AACSB PRT visit on August 2021. From the schoolwork on preparing the SER and had pre-visit by the PRT Chair in December 2022. The SER was submitted on February 1st, 2023. GSB will receive the PRT committee for visit during May 2023 between 7th till 11th.

GSB AACSB PRT COMMITTEE

GSB’s Quest for Excellence: Our Journey to AACSB Accreditation

The Objectives

The purpose of this document is to outline GSB’s initiatives aimed at fostering The AACSB culture within the organization. This document provides initiatives that GSB undertook to encourage AACSB culture within GSB. This might include activities such as faculty development programs, faculty and administration staff engagement opportunities, and institutional collaborations aimed at promoting AACSB’s mission and values.

Summary of GSB AACSB Journey

January 2014: Become an educational member of AACSB
September 2016: Submit unit of accreditation application
March 2017: Submit eligibility application and develop initial self-evaluation report
Pay IAC or AAC acceptance and initial accreditation fee
Accreditation standards alignment
15 March 2019: Submit final iSER and strategic plan
01 June 2020: Update iSER
Progress report iSER
December 2022: Final SER review, pre-visit analysis
May 2023: School visit

2015
22 October 2015: The Dean of GSB suggested a workshop/meeting be held to discuss exam-related issues for the MBA and OMBA Programs and review the structure in line with AACSB.
22 October 2015: The most recent guidebook provided for February 2016 admission was prepared. It is primarily related to AACSB (rubric) for distribution to students. This is aligned with the changes to the curriculum structure.

2016
14 June 2016: Presentation of AoL report in the academic meeting
9 August 2016: Proposal to make AoL one of the agendas at every academic meeting.
21 September 2016: Presentation of AoL status during the 20th GSB Board meeting

2017
22 Nov 2017: The Dean proposed a new Practice in which AACSB-related process and management documents be incorporated into the Academic Management System (AMS)
14 July 2017: Collection of AoL evidence materials completed.
 
2018
17 January 2018: AoL’s mapping for DBA was modified based on the consultant’s comments on LG and LO. LG2 has proposed laid down research elements.
22 January 2018: iSER report discussion
28 June 2018: Collection of evidence material for DBA exercise for AoL second benchmark was completed. The ISO room at GSB is used as a storage location for AoL report materials.
28 Sept 2018: Dr Rosly and Dr Chin are the person in charge for documenting AoL.
28 Sept 2018: Course selection for AoL Semester 1 and 2 assessments has been finalized.
14 November 2018: The Dean suggested integrating technology systems in documenting AoL.
14 November 2018: Prof. Maling Ebrahimpour was appointed as the new AACSB mentor replacing Prof. Eko Suwardi.
6 – 8 December 2018: GSB and Prof. Maling Ebrahimpour held discussions for the preparation of repreparing the iSER document.
6 – 8 December 2018: Prof. Maling Ebrahimpour visits to lecture class through Webex and on-campus class.

 
2019
27 March 2019: All academic staff are aware that Learning Goals (LG) have been assigned according to the suitability of a course. LG is not necessarily tested on final exams, it can be tested during quizzes, midterm exams or course work. This matter was discussed with the AoL team.
29 May 2019: AoL’s assessment report for the course has been presented. Decisions such as the following: MBA (9 LG &; LO tested, 7 met AoL assessment, 2 did not meet AoL assessment), EMBA (4 LG &; LO tested, 3 met AOL assessment, 1 did not meet) and DBA (4 LG &; LO tested, all met AoL assessment).
29 May 2019: Work on the development of the Academic Management System (AMS) began.
24 July 2019: Presentation of AoL assessment report by Dr Chin Phaik Nie. AoL’s assessments have been updated and matched based on the MBA and DBA curriculum reviews.
24 July 2019: Proposal to isolate the AMS system into two parts, namely AoL and OBE.
28 August 2019: Additional software was added in AMS for AoL databases.
28 August 2019: The Dean of GSB proposed introducing the Business Analytics and Big Data course in line with the progress of Industry 4.0.
25 Oct 2019: The AoL database in the Academic Management System (AMS) was successfully prepared.
November 2019: Assurance of Learning (AoL) workshop was held in November 2019 and is mandatory for all academic staff. Dr Chin Phaik Nie and Dr Imran Mahmud assisted in organising the AoL workshop.

2020
22 Jan 2020: The management of the Academic Management System (AMS) developed by Dr Imran Mahmud was taken over by Dr Ali Vafaei Zadeh. The new student data will be entered into the AoL database in AMS. Graduate Assistants are hired for the purpose of data entry into the system.
25 Feb 2020: The development of the Academic Management System (AMS) system has been perfected.
25 Feb 2020: AoL assessment for MBA, EMBA and DBA programs so far is good, 3 courses need to ‘close the loop’.
19 Aug 2020: The provision of AoL assessment report for Semester 2, 2019/2020 has been completed. In this Semester the AGC631 and ADC631 Research &; Consultancy courses have been tested. The in-direct assessment of MBA students is also taken as an AoL assessment.
19 Aug 2020: Student data has been entered in the Academic Management System (AMS) and AoL data will be updated in the system.
17 November 2020: The iSER Progress Report document has been submitted to the Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC) The AACSB, for consideration in the next meeting scheduled for January 2021. Mentors are actively involved throughout this period until GSBs are invited to submit applications for initial accreditation visits. SER documents need to be prepared and edited.
 
2021
27 January 2021: iSER has been submitted to the Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC), The AACSB for research and consideration in the upcoming meeting scheduled for February 2021.
27 January 2021: Design and strategy for the provision of the Final Self-Evaluation Report (fSER)
22 – 25 February 2021: GSB Dean participated in The AACSB Dean Conference
1 – 4 March 2021: GSB participated in Business Accreditation Seminar (BAS)
18 – 19 March 2021: GSB participated in Seminar Faculty Standards and Tables – 2020 Standards
24 March 2021: The iSER document is accepted. GSB must carry out all the plans stated in the iSER document. GSBs must submit annual reports on the progress of all activities carried out in line with AACSB Standards. Few important points were highlighted that require immediate improvement.
April-May: The AACSB team at GSB is now in the process of preparing the iSER document and determined that the submission of the iSER document to The AACSB Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC), with targeted completion date on May 15, 2021, for a meeting scheduled for July 2021.
1 June 2021: GSB has applied for an extension of the iSER submission period.
8 June 2021: The iSER document has been submitted to the Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC) of The AACSB for consideration in a meeting scheduled for 18-19 July 2021.
8 June 2021: Spreading the awareness on iSER focuses on compliance with the Standard but fSER focuses on impact.
21 July 2021: The iSER Progress Report document was submitted to the Initial Accreditation Committee (IAC) for assessment.
24 August 2021: GSB is eligible to go to the next process which is to be invited for full Accreditation. GSB is expected to receive an audit visit of Peer Review Team (PRT) within one year.
13 – 14 September 2021: The Business Accreditation Seminar (BAS) training was held. It focuses on all the Standards contained in The AACSB recognition process. BAS training is compulsory to all academic staff and some administrative staff involved in the management of academic programs.
4 – 5 October 2021: GSB academic are given training on Assurance of Learning (AoL). Training objectives to ensure that the planning, formation, review, delivery of the curriculum for each program will achieve the predetermined Course Outcomes.
10 December 2021: Discussion with Mentor Prof. Maling Ebrahimpour

2022
24 February 2022: Initial meeting of the Exco Committee with Prof. Daniel J. Connolly, Head of the Peer Review Team. This meeting was important to get his initial insights on the Peer Review Visit expected in May 2023.
7 – 8 Mac 2022: The Self Evaluation Report (SER) workshop by Associate Professor Dr Emrah Ozsoy from Sakarya Business School, Turkey and involves all GSB academic staff.
11 – 12 May 2022: This Assurance of Learning (AoL) workshop is conducted by Dr Angelito Calma, University of Melbourne, Australia and involves all GSB academic staff.
18 -19 May 2022: Workshop to GSB academics and staff for providing Self Evaluation Report (SER) documents.
14 -16 December 2022: Pre-audit visit by the Head of Peer Review Team (PRT) of The AACSB, Professor Daniel J. Connolly and involves all GSB academic staff.

ABOUT PRME